Former governor boosted by KFC fortune
John Y. Brown Jr., a onetime owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken who parlayed his fast-food fortune into a dramatic rise in Kentucky politics, winning one term as governor shortly after marrying sportscaster and former Miss America Phyllis George, died Nov. 21 at a hospital in Lexington, Ky. He was 88.
He had complications from COVID-19, said his daughter Pamela Brown, an anchor and senior Washington correspondent at CNN.
The son of a one-term congressman who longed for higher office, Brown entered politics after a business career in which he helped build Kentucky Fried Chicken into one of the state’s most famous exports and one of the largest fast-food chains in the world. He was also an owner of three pro basketball teams, among them the Boston Celtics.
Brown was 30 in 1964 when he and a co-investor purchased Kentucky Fried Chicken from founder Harland Sanders, a.k.a. Colonel Sanders, for $2 million. The chain grew to include 3,500 locations around the globe.
Brown and his partner sold the business to Heublein in 1971, with Brown’s share of the deal reportedly reaching $35 million. He toyed with the idea of running for the U.S. Senate or for governor before jumping into the 1979 Democratic gubernatorial primary.
He and George were newlyweds when he embarked on the bid and they cultivated an aura of glamour that was dubbed the Kentucky Camelot.
In the primary, Brown defeated several other more experienced candidates then easily beat former Republican governor Louie B. Nunn in the general election.
John Young Brown Jr. was born in Lexington on Dec. 28, 1933, one of five children and the only son. His mother was a homemaker. His father had been named after John Young Brown, a Democrat who served as Kentucky governor from 1891 to 1895. He became a lawyer, speaker of the state House of Representatives, and a member of the U.S. House from 1933 to 1935. He ran seven times for the U.S. Senate and twice for governor, each time unsuccessfully.
Brown’s first marriage, to Ellie Durall, ended in divorce. He and George were divorced in 1998, and she died in 2020. His third marriage, to Jill Roach, a former Mrs. Kentucky, also ended in divorce.
Survivors include three children from his first marriage and two from his second marriage.